1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recorder for directing an optical beam onto an image recording material such as a plate mounted on a drum to record an image on the image recording material.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there is known an image recorder which comprises a cylindrical drum for mounting an image recording material on the outer peripheral surface thereof, a rotative drive mechanism for rotating the drum about a rotary shaft disposed along the axis of the drum, and a recording head for directing an optical beam modulated in accordance with an image signal onto the image recording material. Such an image recorder is adapted to record a desired image on the image recording material by directing the optical beam from the recording head onto the image recording material mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the drum being rotated at high speeds and by moving the recording head in a direction parallel to the rotary shaft of the drum.
For example, an image recorder disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-56467 is designed such that for the purpose of feeding an image recording material to a drum, the image recording material is temporarily placed on a tray angularly disposed on the drum, and is then fed out of the tray toward the surface of the drum. The image recording material is placed onto the angularly disposed tray from above the upper edge of the tray.
When a small-size image recording material is used, the above-mentioned technique can be employed to place the image recording material on the tray. However, the use of a large-size image recording material entails an accordingly large-size tray, making it difficult to feed the image recording material from above the upper edge of the angularly disposed tray onto the tray.
The present invention is intended for a technique relating to an image recorder for directing an optical beam onto an image recording material such as a plate mounted on a drum to record an image on the image recording material.
According to the present invention, the image recorder having a front surface and a rear surface comprises: an exposure unit for performing an image formation process on an image recording material mounted on an outer surface of a recording drum; and an image recording material feed unit located above the recording drum for feeding the image recording material to the recording drum, the image recording material feed unit including a tray having a front edge on the front surface side and a rear edge on the rear surface side and located angularly so that the front edge is below the rear edge, a guide member for guiding the image recording material fed from the front surface side to near the front edge of the tray, and a raising member for holding the image recording material guided by the guide member to the tray to raise the image recording material until the image recording material is received throughout its length on the tray. This facilitates the operation of placing the image recording material on the tray.
Preferably, the raising member comprises: a suction pad; and a moving element for moving the suction pad along the tray. The suction pad achieves satisfactory holding of the image recording material.
Preferably, the raising member further comprises a lifting mechanism for moving the suction pad upwardly and downwardly with respect to an upper surface of the tray. The suction pad, which is moved upwardly and downwardly by the lifting mechanism, can provide increased flexibility of the vacuum-holding location of the image recording material fed from the guide member.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image recorder capable of easily feeding an image recording material onto an inclined tray even when the image recording material is large in size.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.